A Peer E-mentoring Intervention to Improve Employment

Despite the strong business case of hiring people with disabilities, a significant proportion of youth with disabilities leave high school and neither work nor continue their education and are unprepared to meet the demands of a work environment. Although youth with disabilities have much to gain from employment readiness programs, they are often excluded from, or have limited access to school and community vocational programs. One encouraging approach to address gaps in vocational programming is through peer mentoring, which may facilitate a smoother transition to adulthood by offering support to enhance coping skills. Despite the increase in online communities, little is known about their impact on vocational mentoring for youth with physical disabilities and their parents. The purpose of this study is to develop, implement and assess the feasibility of an online peer mentor employment readiness intervention for youth with physical disabilities and their parents to improve their self-efficacy, career maturity and social support.